Student Lettings

Student lettings landlords are arguably the most affected and disadvantaged by the changes introduced under the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 and will usually feel two changes more than most:

• Any “fixed term” wording stops having legal effect once the new rules apply.
• Rent periods are forced into monthly (or 28 days or less). In practice, you cannot require termly/loan-aligned rent periods, and you generally cannot require more than a month’s rent at a time as rent becomes due.

You can still agree on practical payment arrangements (for example, students choosing to pay in bigger lump sums), but the tenant’s legal liability for rent follows the required monthly/28-day rent periods.

The three situations to think about

Most student lets fall into one of these:

• Existing student tenancies already in occupation on 1 May 2026
• Tenancies entered into before 1 May 2026 but starting later (for example, signed early for a September 2026 start)
• Tenancies entered into on or after 1 May 2026

Existing student tenancies already in occupation on 1 May 2026

For a lot of student lets already up and running, the day-to-day reality may not change much (many students still leave over the summer). What changes is the legal position from 1 May 2026, and what you need to serve to keep certain options available later.

Fixed terms and non-compliant rent periods stop having effect

From 1 May 2026:

• Any tenancy term that tries to create a fixed term has no effect.
• Any tenancy term that makes tenancy periods different from the periods for which rent is payable (“rent periods”) has no effect. Rent periods have to match tenancy periods.

For an existing tenancy, any rent period beginning on or after 1 May 2026 that is not:

• 28 days or shorter, or
• monthly

has no effect.

So “termly”, “per loan instalment”, “every 90 days”, and similar structures cease to be legally operative for rent periods beginning on or after 1 May 2026.

Rent periods that end before 1 May 2026 are unaffected.

If the rent periods do not comply, how is the monthly rent worked out?

If the original rent periods do not comply, the tenancy is treated as if it provided for successive one-month rent periods. The rent for each monthly period is calculated as:

R / D x 30.42

Where:

• R is the rent that would have been due for the first (old) rent period, and
• D is the number of whole days in that first period.

For existing tenancies, the rules also affect when those statutory monthly periods begin. In broad terms, they start on 1 May 2026, or on the day after the end of the rent period that includes 1 May 2026.

Worked example: “termly” rent on a 10-month student agreement

Assume:

• Joint student tenancy starts 1 September 2025
• Written “fixed term” to 30 June 2026 (10 months)
• “Monthly rent” is £1,800 but collected in three “termly” instalments:
  • 1 Sep 2025 to 31 Dec 2025: £7,200
  • 1 Jan 2026 to 31 Mar 2026: £5,400
  • 1 Apr 2026 to 30 Jun 2026: £5,400

Result from 1 May 2026:

• 1 May 2026 falls part-way through the third termly rent period (1 Apr to 30 Jun 2026), so that period continues as agreed.
• The statutory monthly rent periods start from 1 July 2026.
• If the students stay after 30 June 2026, rent becomes monthly from 1 July 2026, calculated from the final termly period:
  • £5,400 ÷ 91 days × 30.42 ≈ £1,805.14 per month

If everyone leaves around the expected end date, you may not notice much in practice.

Worked example: same structure, but a 12-month agreement ending 31 August 2026

Assume:

• Joint tenancy runs 1 September 2025 to 31 August 2026
• “Monthly rent” £1,800, collected in four instalments:
  • 1 Sep 2025 to 31 Dec 2025: £7,200
  • 1 Jan 2026 to 31 Mar 2026: £5,400
  • 1 Apr 2026 to 30 Jun 2026: £5,400
  • 1 Jul 2026 to 31 Aug 2026: £3,600

Result from 1 May 2026:

• The 1 Apr to 30 Jun 2026 period continues unchanged to 30 June 2026.
• From 1 July 2026, monthly rent periods apply and displace the remaining termly structure.
• The monthly rent is calculated from 1 Apr to 30 Jun period:
  • £5,400 ÷ 91 days × 30.42 ≈ £1,805.14 per month

That figure applies to July and August 2026 and continues after 31 August 2026 if the tenants remain (unless and until lawfully changed).

Section 21 notices already served (existing tenancies)

If you served a section 21 notice on or before 30 April 2026, you can still rely on it (subject to the usual time limits).

This matters for another reason: an outstanding section 21 or section 8 notice can delay commencement for an individual tenancy (see the note at the end of this page).

Rent in advance on existing tenancies

For these purposes, “rent in advance” means rent due before the rent period it relates to.

Key points for existing tenancies:

• Any rent taken in advance before 1 May 2026 is unaffected.
• The new “rent in advance” restriction does not apply to a tenancy entered into before 1 May 2026.
• Even if you accept lump sums aligned to student loan dates, the tenant’s legal liability follows the post-change monthly rent periods. If they do not pay a lump sum covering future months, they are not automatically “in arrears” for those future months until those months actually fall due.

Tenant notice on student tenancies

From 1 May 2026, a tenant’s notice is generally two months, unless the tenancy validly allows a shorter period.

In practice:

• If the tenancy allows one month, the tenant can give one month.
• If it is silent or requires two months, the tenant can give two months.

Other points:

• The notice must expire at the end of a tenancy period (so rent periods matter when determining expiry dates).
• In a joint tenancy, one joint tenant’s notice ends the tenancy for all joint tenants.
• A notice to quit can be withdrawn if the landlord and all tenants agree.
• Any rent paid for days after the tenancy ends must be repaid.

Written information duties and Ground 4A for existing tenancies

Prescribed “changes” information

For existing written (or partly written) tenancies, the landlord must provide the tenant with the prescribed information about the changes within the month ending 31 May 2026 (typically a government document/leaflet in the required format).

If the tenancy is wholly oral at commencement, the landlord must instead provide the section 16D written statement within one month of 1 May 2026.

Ground 4A: the student HMO possession ground (extra step)

If you want the option of using Ground 4A later, there is an additional written-statement requirement for existing tenancies:

• At least one joint landlord must give the tenant a written statement of the landlord’s wish to be able to recover possession using Ground 4A within the month beginning with 1 May 2026.

The statement must confirm:

• the student test is met (either when the tenancy was entered into, or when the statement is given), and
• the landlord intends to re-let to students on the next letting.

Limits to watch:

• If there are joint tenants, Ground 4A applies only if all joint tenants meet (or have met) the student test.
• For existing tenancies, Ground 4A is modified so the usual six-month condition (about timing between entry into the tenancy and entitlement to possession) is omitted.

If you want Ground 4A available for a student HMO tenancy already in place, expect to serve two separate documents in May 2026:

• the prescribed “changes” information, and
• the Ground 4A student statement.

Tenancies entered into before 1 May 2026 but starting later (e.g. September 2026 start)

This covers the common student pattern of signing well ahead of the academic year.

Key points:

• You can use “fixed-term style” wording for marketing and clarity, but treat it as non-binding once the new rules apply.
• The single most important drafting point is to make rent periods monthly from the outset, with a clear monthly rent.
• Even if the tenancy has not started yet, if it was entered into before 1 May 2026, the May 2026 information duties still apply (the prescribed “changes” information, and the separate Ground 4A statement if you want Ground 4A available).

Avoid termly rent periods in a pre-May signed agreement that starts later

If you enter into a tenancy before 1 May 2026 but draft it so that rent is payable in termly periods that all begin after 1 May 2026, those termly rent-period terms do not survive.

The awkward bit is the mechanics of replacing those rent periods when the tenancy starts after commencement, and there was no rent period running on 1 May 2026. It’s a pointless argument to create.

Always use monthly rent periods and state a monthly rent from the outset.

Tenancies entered into on or after 1 May 2026

These tenancies sit entirely within the new regime.

• There is no fixed term.
• Rent periods must be monthly or 28 days or less.
• The landlord must give the written statement of terms and other prescribed information before the tenancy is entered into (before signature).
• A holding deposit of one week’s rent can be taken before entry into the tenancy.
• To use Ground 4A (student HMO possession, four months’ notice), the tenancy must not be entered into more than six months before it starts (for a 1 September start, do not sign before 1 March).
• After the tenancy is entered into and before it starts, the landlord can ask for no more than:
  • the first month’s rent in advance (where rent is monthly), and
  • the tenancy deposit (less any holding deposit already paid, if applicable).
• Once the tenancy has started, the tenant can generally give two months’ notice unless the tenancy validly allows less (and the notice must still expire at the end of a tenancy period).

If commencement is delayed for a particular tenancy

This page assumes a commencement date of 1 May 2026.

If there is an outstanding section 21 or section 8 notice for a particular tenancy, commencement can be delayed for that tenancy (so it can remain assured shorthold until the notice is concluded). If that happens, the transitional triggers above may not apply in the way you expect, so be careful about timing and which regime you are operating under for that tenancy.